Hester Fox has done it again! She's woven together a creepy historical story tinged with paranormal. I love the strong female characters in this story who are determined to survive on their own and fight their own battles. This story has a medium as a main character, grave robbers, suspense, and a little romance to balance out all the darkness. The story moves along at a good pace with well formed characters, though I found some of the transitions a little off. I wasn't as drawn in as I would have liked, but that's my taste. If you've enjoyed Fox's other books, you will enjoy this one!

I received an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The Orphan of Cemetery Hill is going to be a great fall read! With it's spooky atmosphere, cemeteries, grave robbing and supernatural elements it's quite a thrill ride! I enjoyed Tabby and her character as well as her story. I felt like their could be some improvements on characters and character building but I really enjoyed the story and the pacing of it. The time period was captured well. Overall this was a really enjoyable read!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC

Another beautiful novel from Hester Fox. A perfect mix of gothic, supernatural, mystery and a little romance. Fox does a great job combining these elements in an intelligent, never cheesy way. I was invested in the main character from the start, as well as loving to hate some of the less desirable characters. A great read

So. There was a lot happening in this book. We have Tabby the Medium, her missing sister who happens to be able to see the future, a self-emancipated man, murder, body snatching, weird secret medical experimentation...like I said. There was a lot happening here.

I liked Tabby's independent spirit and her ability to take care of herself when her sister disappeared. I also liked her relationship with Eli. It was very sweet.

I think that all of these things made the book a little hard to follow at times and it required a lot of suspension of disbelief.

I don't know how I'm more upset at, myself of this book. I have loved the other books that Fox has written. The Widow of Pale Harbor being my favorite, to the point that I have already read it more than once. So I was excited and also had high expectations for this book. The idea of it sounded just up my alley and I was gad to get my hands on it.

I don't understand what happened. It took me so long to get through this book that eventually I was just reading it to get it finished. I struggled to get through it and in the end, I didn't really like it. Maybe it was because of my high expectations, but I just didn't connect with the characters of really cared about them.

I think this one is more of a head scratcher for me.

Blog: TheGeekishBrunette Run Date: September 11th, 2020

My disappointment knows no bound for this. As someone who has read the other two books by this author and loved them, I'm sad to say that this one was just very underwhelming.

Like her last book, this one has two main point-of-views and then another that doesn't come into play until later on in the book and its only for that moment. I am a fan of multiple PoV so I didn't mind this but, sometimes the PoV would switch in the same chapter and I much prefer there to be a chapter break to make the switch.

The characters were ones that I didn't find myself connecting with. At times they felt flat and I especially wanted more from their gifts.

When it came to the ability of talking with the dead, it was pretty disappointing. The author's other books are quite spooky and have those gothic vibes that I love. This one just didn't live up to those which is a shame because their gifts could have been used much better than they were.

The writing was kind of on the meh side. There was a lot of telling and it made it easy to guess what was going to happen because she even gave one of the plot twists away. I think that is where I started to lose interest the most. It also never got better from there because I just didn't care for the plot. Everything just felt too convenient. The romance couldn't even hook me because it was very much insta-love and they didn't have many parts together to really solidify their relationship.

Overall, I love this author but this one right here missed the mark. I will definitely check out another book by this author if/when she writes a new one and hopefully it will be more along the lines of her other two.

This was the first Hester Fox book I read and I loved it. I liked all the characters, especially Eli and Mary-Ruth. The story had me coming back for more.

Tabby, the main character has an amazing gift of speaking with the dead. Because of this, her and her sister flee to Boston, where they become separated.

Young Tabby finds Eli, an African American man who takes her in and raises her as his own. During the years that pass she grows up keeping her secret to herself, but soon has to use her gift to save herself and the ones she loves.

#netgalley #theorphanofcemetaryhill

This was my first book by Hester Fox and I’m a huge fan now! What a storyline, suspense, romance, intrigue, crime, and drama. I loved it!

What a great book. I have previously reviewed another book by Hester Fox and was delighted to see that she had a new novel out!
This book was very interesting, it follows the life of a young woman, named Tabby, who is clairvoyant. It takes place in Boston during the 1800s.
There was very interesting historical background regarding "resurrection men" and Harvard, which I thought was very interesting and gruesome to learn about.
The character development was great and I sped through the last half of the book in a few hours because it was such a speedy read and so engaging!
I would definitely suggest this book to someone who enjoys ethereal and mystical things, as well as ghost stories and gothic romance.

Deliciously creepy and utterly compelling, this is a gothic story to keep you up at night.

Tabby is only a child when she escapes from her abusive aunt and uncle and then from the Resurrection Men, finding safety in a cemetery. She is taken in by the caretaker, Eli Cooke, whom I adored. Tabby has a secret—she can speak with the dead. She meets by chance a handsome young man in the cemetery and then again ten years later when his father dies. Caleb is rakishly charming and a rogue you can’t help but root for. Even as he makes reprehensible choices. But killing his fiancé is not one of them...even if he’s arrested for the crime. Tabby risks everything to help him prove his innocence only to discover shocking secrets about her town and the people she loves.

Murder, mystery, suspense, romance, and clairvoyance, this story delivers on all levels. It’s a perfectly haunting read with shades of FRANKENSTEIN.

I feel a little cheated by this book. I was so looking forward to it-- The Witch of Willow Hall was my surprise dark horse favorite of 2018 with its dark and complex characters. It doesn't deserve the lame book cover it has.
The Orphan of Cemetery Hill has a pretty book cover, but it feels like a first novel by a novice author trying their hand at a gothic romance. That first chapter was rough to get through but I powered on and it got a bit better after about 65%, but I still was left feeling very disappointed. The characters were flat and there was so much telling instead of showing. Caleb was a bit of a douche-- "I'm going to kiss you now" after meeting Tabby for a total of maybe 15 minutes? Telling his fiance that he was meeting ~some girl/it meant nothing!!~ instead of bringing up that his father's body was snatched by anatomists? Not even caring much that his father's tomb was broken into felt really weird. Other ghosts can talk but Rose was just singing a song? And Tabby just happening to sneak into the bad guy's house and just happened to find the earring he stole from Rose is just so deeply unlikely.
Urgh.
I'll keep reading Hester Fox's books but this one is a definite pass.

I had been having a bad few days: washer quit, faucet leaking, and a sick cat. I decided to read for a while and try to regain my sanity. All I can say is "Thank you, Hester Fox" This book hooked me from the very beginning. Love it Thank you Netgalley.